Congressman wants Kent impeached

He also wants to deny retirement for judge who pleaded guilty in sex-crimes case

MARY FLOOD, Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Chronicle

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U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent is shown with his wife, Sarah, in May. He was charged with trying to cover up sexual assaults on two female employees.

U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent is shown with his wife, Sarah, in May. He was charged with trying to cover up sexual assaults on two female employees.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Chronicle

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Donna Wilkerson, left, Kent’s former secretary, and Cathy McBroom, a one-time case manager for him, were each awarded more than $3,000 restitution.

Donna Wilkerson, left, Kent’s former secretary, and Cathy McBroom, a one-time case manager for him, were each awarded more than $3,000 restitution.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Chronicle

Congressman wants Kent impeached

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A ranking congressional judiciary committee Republican said Tuesday he will call for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice this week.

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Tuesday that once Kent has been sentenced he will introduce a resolution to impeach the 59-year-old jurist who is seeking to retire with full pay. Kent is scheduled to be sentenced in May. Prosecutors have asked he serve three years in prison.

“Felons don’t belong on the bench or in Congress,” said Sensenbrenner, a former chairman of the House judiciary committee.

The congressman called it outrageous that Kent is asking to retire under a disability exception so he can keep collecting a federal paycheck for the rest of his life.

“Nobody should be paid by the taxpayers for sitting in jail and not hearing a case,” he said. “And if his honor wishes to avoid the embarrassment and expense of impeachment, he should resign.”

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Federal district judges are appointed for life. When they retire at 65 — or earlier, if disabled — they continue to receive the same pay as their retirement benefits. Judges lose these privileges only if they resign or are impeached.

Sensenbrenner said another federal judge, Walter Nixon of Mississippi, was sent to prison for tax evasion. Nixon, who refused to resign, was disbarred and still tried to retake the bench before being impeached.

He worries that Kent could retire on disability, then claim he was cured after a prison term and try to retake the bench, too.

Treated for disabilities

Kent admitted Monday that he obstructed justice by lying to investigators for a judicial committee looking into a sexual complaint against him. In his plea arrangement Kent also admitted he had non-consensual sexual contact with two female court employees between 2003 and 2007.

Kent told a judge Monday that he’s been treated for diabetes and psychiatric and psychological problems for the past three years. He also said he is taking medications for all those conditions.

Tuesday the more than 200 cases that were on Kent’s Houston courthouse docket were reassigned, according to David Bradley, chief deputy clerk for the Houston area federal district. Kent had only heard civil cases since January 2008 and stopped hearing any cases in January of this year.

Some area lawyers said Kent’s claim of disability to get retirement could raise questions about his legal decisions in the last few years in which he said he was suffering the same problems.

Kent Schaffer, a local criminal defense attorney, said if Kent thinks his symptoms are severe enough that he could take disability, they might be severe enough that attorneys should take another look at cases he decided.

Cases could reopen

“It would be malpractice for a lawyer who had a case before Kent in the last two years or so to not take a look at this,” Schaffer said. “In essence it’s an invitation to reopen cases.”

He said in criminal cases newly discovered facts could allow an attorney to reopen a case.

David Crump, a University of Houston Law Center professor, said in civil cases there is also a mechanism to revisit a case but he’s never heard of one reopened because of a judge’s infirmities. “I think a court would be reluctant to reopen,” Crump said.